The Cross Archives - Kristin Saatzer

I Can’t Stop Remembering The Cross! (repost)

April 1, 2021 By Kristin Saatzer 6 Comments

Original post: March 26, 2016

“And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh

mental and spiritual attitude].”

~Ephesians 4:23 AMP

“I can’t stop remembering the cross!” Words uttered by my four-year-old after participating in a Good Friday observance. As worship music played in the park, I walked Sammy over to look at large wooden crosses displayed on the ground. These crosses replicated the historical death-crosses of Jesus’ time. After running our fingers over the rough wood of one, my little boy attempted to lift it. Impossible. Next, came a litany of questions after plopping himself on my lap. Each question I attempted to answer brought on five more questions. His inquiring mind wasn’t satisfied and ready to move on to the playground. As he took in the scene, I felt his nervousness as he settled and unsettled on my legs. Revelation blossoming in his little soul.

In the weeks following our time in the park, Sammy peppered me with questions as he continued to analyze and process this story- this Jesus dying on the cross story. We read from the Bible and from picture books on the subject. We prayed. Running through the house, he’d stop and say “I can’t stop remembering the cross!”

Seventeen years later, I hear his sweet, passionate four-year-old voice in my head.

This experience moved Sammy (and his mommy too). He was renewed in the spirit of his mind by seeing and touching the cross. Ephesians 4:23 tells us in the Amplified, that we may have a fresh mental and spiritual attitude by being renewed constantly, continually, perseveringly.

Our renewal comes through remembering: the cross, the nails, the hands, the feet, the grace, the promise of eternity. Remembering: the love, the pierced side, sin erased, the curtain torn, the resurrection.

Rebirth. Renewal. Jesus.

Experiencing Christ, this is renewal! Trying to lift a heavy cross and running our hands over splintered wood. Reading the stories in His book. THIS is renewal (constant, continual), born anew again and again. Revelation blossoming in our souls.

And like my little boy once did, we say, “I can’t stop remembering the cross!”

At the cross at the cross, I surrender my life

I’m in awe of You, I’m in awe of You

Where Your love ran red and my sin washed white

I owe all to You, I owe all to You Jesus

~Chris Tomlin

Jesus, Women, and the Upside-down Kingdom

April 12, 2019 By Kristin Saatzer 2 Comments

As a child, I had a beef with some traditional, so-called “women’s work”. There was baking, sewing, and crocheting with my grandma. But cooking, no way! And doing dishes, oh brother. I believe my disdain stemmed from family holiday gatherings. I watched with arms crossed, as the men plopped themselves on the couch, football game humming on the TV, while the women cleaned up. This, after the females had laboriously cooked our meal. My little-girl brain felt it unfair.

Yet, this mini, sorta-feminist adored all these men: my grandpas, my dad, and dear family friends. These were not a lazy lot when it came to their professions. They were simply conforming to the norms of our family and of the larger, ages-old cultural system.

Society has systems and patterns of values passed through the generations. The Bible documents an extraordinary timeline and kingdom narrative. In the Old Testament, a moral code established a culture based on law. Religious and wealthy men were held in the highest regard; women, slaves, and the poor placed at the bottom of the rung.

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28 NKJV

However, in the New Testament, we meet a subversive Savior who shakes up an age-old social structure on his three-year journey to the cross. There was upheaval when He entered the scene; He turned His culture upside-down. Jesus healed and fed. Jesus touched the rich and poor, the young and old, the marginalized.

And the women.

Through Her Eyes

April 16, 2017 By Kristin Saatzer 2 Comments

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38 NIV

“No Greater Love” by Simon Dewey

I think of her every year on Christmas and Easter; sometimes in between. I imagine Mary’s life as seen through her eyes. A young woman, chosen by God to birth and mother the Savior (see Luke 1:35). A mother who watched her grown up son abused, beaten, and hung on a cross as a criminal.

There are many aspects to her story. We can delve into Mary as a mother, a wife, a disciple of Jesus and more. But what strikes me most this Easter season is Mary’s trust in God. When the angel visited this teenage virgin, Mary could have chosen to resist the will of God, instead, she chose to trust. She walked each day with eyes of trust- even as she followed her son on His walk to the Cross (see John 19:25).

TRUST:

1a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something

b : one in which confidence is placed

2a : dependence on something future or contingent: hope

MerriamWebster.com

Mary’s trust in God resonates deeply with me these days. Not because I trust as she did, but because I don’t. Oftentimes, I do not view my life through trust-filled eyes. I ruminate on the untrustworthiness of those I’ve loved. I worry about the future. I take things into my own hands before seeking the Lord. It has been especially challenging these weeks of Lent because I suspect God is leading me to a deeper place of dependence. He continues to knock down my trust-borders. I DO NOT LIKE IT.Continue Reading

Is Ungratefulness A Sin?

March 1, 2017 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

The Practice of Gratitude Part 2

A society dwells in a dump, a cavity of stink where the city throws its trash in Tijuana, Mexico.

As a college student, I spent a day volunteering there. We administered showers to the kids. We checked for lice one family at a time and passed out toiletries to the masses. They received two meals and clean clothes. These precious ones called this horrible pit their home. The lucky ones used cardboard boxes as shelter from the rain.

Never in my young life had I seen such gratefulness, such unabashed appreciation. It was as if we had rescued them and delivered them to a mansion. Strong images, forever ingrained in my mind.

Repeated guilt ensued after my time at the dump, including an ongoing confession to God. I kept saying, “God, forgive me for my ungratefulness! Forgive me for all my stuff, forgive me, forgive me…” It felt wrong that I had so much. Wrong that I was living in a large condo, driving a great car and getting a college degree. I had fabulous clothes and a warm shower every day. No one administered humiliating lice checks and I didn’t worry when the rain came.

Was it a sin that I was born to my parents? That my folks could afford material possessions for me? A college education and housing to boot? Such extravagance compared to the mammas and daddies I’d met, wanting only to feed, clothe, and protect their children. My college-girl self lived sheltered and cared for. A gift.

In time, my grown-up self learned this truth:

Being raised with material abundance is not a sin.

My dump encounter was priceless. My experience that day eclipsed the small bit of what I did for the people I met. In the years following, I’ve had many opportunities to look at my plenty, in contrast to the lives of people living in poverty: I’ve worked in prisons, orphanages, street outreach, homeless shelters, among many. What strikes me each time I “serve” is the gratitude given. Beautiful gratitude, this is what I aspire to take from these experiences into my living. Not guilt or a feeling that my privileges are a sin.

Valuable examples for me. I’ve seem that no matter what the condition or situation, there is always something to be grateful for. If the citizens of the dump can do it, so can I.

Also valuable was coming to terms with sin and abundance. But what about sin and ungratefulness?